"So, do you have everything you need?" Lorelai asked Luke the next Saturday morning in the strangely empty diner before she went to work.
"Yeah, I think so. If I don't, I'll get it later. Rory's coming home this afternoon, right?"
"Nope. Change of plans. I figured someone would blab about it somewhere between the time she got home and the time the party started. Small towns suck."
"Don't I know it," Luke said, rolling his eyes.
"I'm going to go pick her up later. I convinced her that she shouldn't be wasting her gas coming back and forth from Yale every weekend so I told her I'd come get her. By the time we get back, the party will be in full swing."
Luke nodded. "Lorelai, I need to talk to you about something."
Oh no. He remembers. He wants to talk about how big of a mistake it was. He wants to forget it ever happened. "O…k," Lorelai said, reluctantly.
Luke swallowed hard. "There's something I want to give Rory for her Birthday but I wanted to make sure it was okay with you first," he said nervously.
Whew! He doesn't remember. Or at least, I think he doesn't. Wait, when did that become a good thing? "Oh, ok. What is it?"
"This." Luke pulled out a long, velvet box from beneath the counter.
Lorelai slowly reached out and opened it to reveal a string of glistening white pearls. She gasped at the sight. "Oh, Luke, these are beautiful," she said in awe, not taking her eyes off of them.
"They were my mother's," Luke said, proudly.
"Rory would love this."
"You really think so?"
"I know so. But, Luke, why do you want to give Rory something so special?" Lorelai asked, a bit confused by his generous gesture.
"Well, uh, Liz's neck is too big and… uh… Rory seems like a pearl kind of girl, so, I , uh, thought she might like them," Luke stuttered, not wanting to reveal the real reason.
Lorelai smiled at him, knowing what Luke really meant. "She'll love it. She may even give up coffee for a week for you to say thanks."
Luke smiled. "Good"
"Rory!" Lorelai yelled into her daughter's dorm when no one answered the door for more than 5 minutes.
"Mom? Is that you?" Rory yelled back, walking out of her bedroom and into the common room.
"What's so loud?" Lorelai continued to yell.
"The stupid people upstairs! They haven't turned the stereo down for two days! I can't even hear myself think in here!"
"Isn't there anything you can do about it?"
"Paris has it under control right now! She went upstairs to get them to turn it off!" Just then, the loud music stopped, but Paris' voice could be heard through the ceiling, yelling at the offending head bangers louder than the music had been.
"And keep it off! Or you'll have me to deal with again!"
"For all of Paris's faults, when she does something good, it's really good," Rory said, finally able to return to a normal volume.
"Ready to go?"
"Ready." Rory bent down and picked up her weekend duffel bag and followed her mother out the door and to the Jeep.
Lorelai and Rory drove towards town in a comfortable silence. As they neared the exit to Stars Hollow, faint music could be heard in the distance.
"Oh no. I think those people from the dorm are following us!" Rory said with a smile.
"Maybe. Maybe not," Lorelai replied, nonchalantly. Rory gave her mother a questioning look. Lorelai pulled off of the highway and into Stars Hollow as the music grew louder. The farther they drove into the Hollow, the louder the music got, and more glistening lights could be seen.
"Oh, great. What crazy town event does Taylor have planned this weekend?" Rory asked, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, you said you loved town events. And besides, this one's not so crazy," Lorelai said, trying not to give anything away, but getting more excited by the second.
Soon, the two girls were just outside of the town square. A few more feet, and they would be able to read the huge sign above Luke's Diner reading: "Happy Birthday, Rory!"
"Mom, what's this?" Rory said, as she read the sign.
"The crazy town event." Lorelai parked the car right outside the diner.
"Did you do this?"
Lorelai nodded. "Remember when I tried to tell Luke about the baby?" Lorelai said at a whisper. It would only be a matter of seconds before a townie noticed that the Jeep had pulled up. In fact, she was very surprised that no one had already noticed.
"Yeah…?" Rory said, with a confused expression.
"Well, when I chickened out, I had to come up with something to tell him, and this was it."
"He's not cleaning our gutters?"
"Oh, no, I'll still get him to do that," Lorelai said, smiling at her daughter.
"Thanks, Mom." Rory lunged towards her mother and hugged her. After a few seconds, they heard knocks at the Jeep doors.
"Happy Birthday, Suga! Now, get your cute asses out here and party!" Babette shouted though the windows.
"Thanks for all this, Luke," Lorelai said to Luke in a very empty diner, after everyone else had gathered in the town square for Miss Patty's punch.
"It's no problem, really. It was for Rory."
"Did she like her present?" Lorelai asked, remembering the pearls.
"Oh, I didn't give it to her yet. I wanted to wait til after the party to give it to her so that she didn't lose it. Where is she, anyway?"
"I think she and Lane snuck down to the bridge to escape the crowd for a little while."
"I don't blame her," Luke said, rolling his eyes at the crazy drunken crowd outside. They were now in a circle, linked arms and swaying, each with a plastic cup in hand. Kirk had taken his place in the center of the circle, directing the group in some drinking song. Though, they all knew his cup contained only Hawaiian Punch in reality. Mother would never allow the real stuff.
"I think she really enjoyed this," Lorelai said, sitting next to Luke at the counter.
"I'm sure she did. I think this probably beats out that infamous 8th birthday party that you guys always talk about," Luke said, smirking.
"Yeah, probably." The two sat in silence for many minutes, just staring at their hands. Should I tell him now? It seems like the perfect opportunity. But maybe I shouldn't ruin the evening when everything is going so perfectly. But he has to know. God, I wish he remembered. "Luke, I really want to thank you. For everything."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, tonight was great, but that's not all I want to thank you for. You've been there for me and Rory since the day we walked into the diner for the first time, even when we weren't exactly that fond of each other," Lorelai said, trying to lighten the mood.
"I, uh…" Luke said, not exactly knowing what to say to Lorelai at a moment like this.
"It's okay. You don't have to say anything. I know you're Mr. Monosyllabic. I just wanted to saythank you."
"You're welcome."
They sat staring at each other, neither taking their eyes off the other's for anything. Luke began leaning in closer and closer until they were only a couple inches apart. Is this really happening? they both thought at the same time.
"Luke?" Lorelai questioned, almost inaudibly.
"Yeah?" Luke answered, just as quiet.
Before either of them could say anything else, Lorelai closed the distance between them and met him in a kiss filled with years of passion. They both stood up to get closer to each other. Luke wrapped his arms around Lorelai's waistand Lorelai wrapped her arms around his neck and absentmindedly played with the curls at the bottom of his neck. Luke moved his hand to Lorelai's stomach, which was a bit rounder than normal. Scared that Luke might say something, Lorelai broke the kiss and jumped out of Luke's embrace, throwing his hand off of her stomach.
"What? What's wrong?" Luke asked, confused.
"N- Nothing. I just got a little scared for a minute," Lorelai said truthfully, though not telling him why she got so scared.
"Scared? Oh, uh, do just want to forget that happened?" Luke asked at a whisper, now scared that her answer would be yes.
"No, not at all." Luke sighed in relief. Lorelai slowly walked back to him and place her hands on his face, giving him a sweet but short kiss. "That was some kiss. If one of us had been a frog, that kiss would have had some pretty impressive consequences," Lorelai said, smiling.
Luke smiled back. "Good."
The two of them walked hand in hand out the door of the diner and sat down on the front steps, watching the crowd in silence, Luke with his arm around Lorelai's back, and Lorelai with her head on Luke's shoulder.
Tbc.
So? What'd'ya think? Review!